


figures who may actually, secretly, be fathers

by elijay



Category: Inception (2010), White Collar (TV 2009)
Genre: Arthur visits Neal at work, BAMF!arthur, Gen, M/M, and does the badass criminal dad version of that whole thing, and if there's ever more of this you bet he'll be the other dad, just a Peter Diana and Jones meets Neal's dad Arthur fic, not much else to it tbh, the Arthur/Eames is implied, wish there were more of those
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28062261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elijay/pseuds/elijay
Summary: “Hello,” Peter greets cautiously. There’s absolutely no reason for anyone to be here so late after hours, especially someone Peter doesn’t recognize.Peter’s now close enough to see, with sharp, trained eyes, that the man has at least two guns on him, very cleverly hidden from normal sight. “Hello, Peter Burke,” the man greets back amicably.He stiffens at his name, and his hand drifts to his gun. “Name and badge, please,” he requests still, hoping that this is all simply a misunderstanding and he can go back and give El a hug and an apology and Satchmo a ruffle and a treat.“Oh,” the man says, “I’m not an agent.”
Relationships: Arthur (Inception) & Neal Caffrey, Arthur/Eames (Inception)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 144





	figures who may actually, secretly, be fathers

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Skybird](https://archiveofourown.org/works/314073) by [windsweptfic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/windsweptfic/pseuds/windsweptfic). 



> hi, sorry for my lapse in posting these last couple months. i've been fairly busy and distracted with other things in life and unfortunately that doesn't seem to be changing. i wrote this piece a couple of months ago (3 maybe?) but only now re-discovered it and decided it was okay enough for posting.
> 
> i've posted this as inspired by 'Skybird,' which is a brilliant inception x white collar crossover that if you like this, or even just bothered to click on this, you should go check out. it's continuation by a different author, 'Life in Interesting Times,' is also amazing. that said, it's only very, very loosely inspired.

There’s a figure of average height, with dark, slicked back hair, and wearing a sharp suit with a large leather jacket thrown over the top in the darkened general office.

His first thought is _El’s gonna kill me_ when realising how late it is when the team - Neal, Jones, and Diana - finally begin to leave Peter’s office for the night. His second is a general feeling of alarm and suspicion when said figure is spotted.

Neal is still in the office, collecting up all the papers they were going over for the case - he’d gone a little off-script last case and so this is his punishment. It’s just Jones and Diana, and only Peter still has his gun with him. He feels relatively confident in them, otherwise, as both the other two agents have extensive martial arts training, and Neal will hopefully soon notice something is wrong and call help.

“Hello,” Peter greets cautiously. There’s absolutely no reason for anyone to be here so late after hours, especially someone Peter doesn’t recognize.

Peter’s now close enough to see, with sharp, trained eyes, that the man has at least two guns on him, very cleverly hidden from normal sight. “Hello, Peter Burke,” the man greets back amicably.

He stiffens at his name, and his hand drifts to his gun. “Name and badge, please,” he requests still, hoping that this is all simply a misunderstanding and he can go back and give El a hug and an apology and Satchmo a ruffle.

“Oh,” the man says, “I’m not an agent.”

Peter takes his gun out, knowing that behind him Diana and Jones are doing their best to prepare for a fight without a gun. “Put your hands up, then,” he demands. “Who are you? How did you get in?”

The man smirks very, very faintly and introduces himself as, “Arthur.”

“Arthur who?” Diana asks.

“Just Arthur.”

Peter frowns. No last name is not usually a sign of a law-follower. “You do realise how that sounds, right?”

“Of course.”

The man, Arthur, holds himself stiffly, carefully, but not unnaturally. “I’m here for Neal Caffrey,” he says, his eyes focused squarely and unwaveringly on the three agents. “I believe he’s in your office?”

Peter tenses. “You’re not talking to him.”

He raises an eyebrow. “No?”

“No,” Peter says. “Diana, cuff him.” At Arthur, he directs, “You’re being arrested for breaking and entering a federal building and possible connections to the crimes of Neal Caffrey.”

Diana approaches with a pair of cuffs, but the dark haired man just smiles indulgently. “I don’t think so,” is the only warning they get before Diana is cuffed with the chain around a desk leg and Peter’s gun goes clattering onto the floor, kicked far too far away, shortly followed by himself. Arthur is just whirling around to face Jones, his back to Peter’s office to keep the downed agents in his sights, when Peter spots Neal finally exiting the office. He visibly gapes for a long, wide-eyed moment at the scene. The hostile intruder doesn’t seem to notice him.

“Arthur!” Neal’s voice rings out, sharp and high. “What are you _doing_?! Those are my friends, they’re good!” He rushes down the steps as Arthur turns around, briefly startled. Jones takes the opening as it is and strikes, but Arthur effortlessly spins back around, and this time he has a gun in his hand, its point aimed with a steady hand at Jones’ forehead, almost close enough to touch. “Arthur!” Neal barks again.

“Neal!” Peter shouts as the conman pushes Jones out of the way, taking his place. 

His worry turns out to be completely unnecessary, because as soon as Neal takes Jones’ place, Arthur shifts the aim of the gun to the ceiling with a violent, harsh jerk and a hissed, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Neal frowns angrily, seemingly perfectly fine with the fact that this man has a gun and also perfectly unbothered as to how he immediately pointed it away from Neal. “No, what do _you_ think you’re doing? This is where I work! And it’s an _FBI_ office! You shouldn’t be here! There are cameras!”

Arthur snorts. “Cameras? Really, Neal?”

Neal bristles. “Alright, so the cameras aren’t a big deal. But my team is here.” He makes a wide sweep of his hand towards Peter, Jones, and Diana, who are all watching, frozen, with wary eyes focused on the gun. Diana is still tied around the desk leg, but Peter has scrambled up from the ground to join Jones, albeit clutching at his ribs and wincing.

Arthur simply raises an eyebrow at that, too. “They aren’t any threat, and you know that.”

A frustrated sound, not unlike an annoyed teenager’s groan, comes out of Neal’s mouth. “Of course they aren’t,” he snaps back harshly. “Of course they aren’t any threat to you, or me, or who-know-who, but it’s not you two I’m worried about!”

“Ah.” Arthur’s keen, dark eyes wander back to the three federal agents. He frowns. “FBI agents, though, Neal?”

“Yes,” Neal says defiantly, and says nothing else, but raises his chin and captures Arthur’s gaze when it returns to him.

After a moment, Arthur sighs and tucks the gun back into his clothes. “You’re not carrying,” he notes.

“You know I don’t like guns.”

“I’m not talking about guns.”

“Arthur, I’m a criminal consultant.” There’s a pause as Arthur gives Neal a look. “A _non-violent_ criminal consultant.” Another look. “I can’t go carrying around weapons of _any_ sort, Arthur!”

He eyes the conman for another second, but acquiesces with a huff.

“Neal, what is going on?” Peter warily asks now that the gun is put away - not that that small fact makes much difference, he now knows.

Neal purses his lips hesitantly, eyeing their uninvited guest. Said uninvited guest grimaces briefly before putting on a smile and turning to the agents. Jones has, by now, gone and helped Diana out of her cuffs, and so all three of them are grouped together again. “Hi, I should reintroduce myself,” he says, and Neal’s eyes widen and he opens his mouth to interrupt, but Arthur is too fast. “I’m Arthur, Neal’s dad.”

Peter gapes. Neal’s _father_. El is totally not going to kill him anymore.

(Exchanging a glance with El over the table, Peter observes later at dinner that the weapons argument is, very clearly, a very old one.)

“What about knives?”

“No, Arthur, knives count as weapons.”

“One knife?”)

**Author's Note:**

> random fyi, i may be posting more little things i've been dragging up from the depths of my docs soon, from a few different fandoms. sometimes i write full things and then just forget about them, only to find them months later. it's a bad habit.
> 
> hope you liked - please consider commenting! any ideas for a continuation are appreciated and who knows, i may get inspired and write something.


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